Building-block.



' P. w. YMAoQUESTEN.

BUILDING BLOCK.

APPLIOATION FILED mm 29, 19'07.

Patented Aug. 2, 1910.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

,l INVENTOR UNITED STATES PATENT oEEIoE.

FREDERIC W. MAGQUESTEN, OF EAST ORANGE, NEW JERSEY.

BUILDING-BLOCK.

Specification of Letters Patent.

- I Application filed June 29, 1907. Serial No. 381,389.

Patented Aug. 2, 1910.

to facilitate the erection of the wall, and by making said blocks hollow great lightness is secured in the wall. It has, however, been a disadvantage of this kind of building construction, that the cement blocks do not read-.

ily lend themselves to architectural treatment or ornamentation of the wall; in other words, the wall has been severely plain,

without any possibility of disguising. its real formation of homely blocks.

The ob'ects of this invention are to obtain a building block which shall better lend itself to architectural treatment or ornamentation of a building; to secure for this purpose a block provided at its face with inserts; to provide such inserts which shall be an integral part of the block from its time of molding; to conceal the lines of joining of different blocks; to enable blocks to be readily laid at equal distances apart without the loss of time or employment of skilled labor; to save labor and expense, and to obtain other advantages and results as maybe brought out in the following description.

Referring to the accompanying drawings,-

in which like numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts in each of the several figures; Figure l is a face view of a portion of a wall composed of blocks of my improved construction; F ig. 2 is a perspectlve View of a single block by itself; Fig. 3 is a transverse section as on line at, Fig. 1, of a block laid in a wall; Fig. 4 is a face view of a ortion of a wall showing a slightly modified construction of building block, said will being partly pointed up; Fig. 5 is a sectional view, as on line 3 4, of said modified I construction; Fig. 6 1s an enlarged section showing a still further modification in detail, and Fig. 7 shows a building block of the first said modified construction adapted to be employed on acorner.

In said drawings, 1 indicates a building buildin block of my improved construction, said block being pressed or molded from concrete, cement, terra cotta or any other suitable or well-known material. Centrally the block is hollowed, as at 2, to secure lightness as has been common, and obviously the block may be of any desired size or shape. The display face of the block or face adapted to be exposed in building is provided with inserts which are of tile or any other suitable material and embedded in the said block.

These inserts are one integral piece with the block as it is manufactured and supplied for purposes, the said inserts bein prefera ly arranged in the bottom of .themol to receive the cement when poured thereon in molding a block, or under some conditions the inserts could be molded first in the bottom of thebuilding-block mold by employing a false bottom, and when they have hardened sufiiciently, removing the said false bottom and pouring or moldingthe main body of the building block.-

In Figs. 1 to 3, inclusive, :I have shown inserts 3 embedded in the blockbody'so that their faces will be flush with the surface of the cementbody 4 of the block, the bottom and edge surfaces of each insert being directly in adhesive connection with the cement or. concrete forming the block, and

held firmly thereby as an integralpart of the block. Obviously by making the tile inserts about the size of a brick in their exposed surface, the efi'ect of a brick wall may be secured and the layers of cement between the inserts will represent the mortar courses in brick work. In carrying this out, said layers .of cement may at their exposed edges be flush as shown, or may pro ect, be recessed, or treated in any other manner to secure a desired effect.

In Fig. 4:, inserts 5 are shown as project ing rom the face of a buildingblock, and they may either be left this way, as shown in Figs. t and 7, or the longitudinal spaces or channels 6 between the inserts may be pointed up or filled with mortarto conceal the fact, that the construction is of blocks, as at 11 in a'portion of Fig. 4. To further this construction, the end or ends of the block might be irregular so as to provide an interlocking of the tile inserts and secure the appearance of stretcher-bond.

In Fig. 6 a construction similar to that of Figs. 4 and 5 is shown, but the inserts 7 have curved or recessed edges 8 into which ,tuberances are conical or taperinv the cement enters so as to absolutely prevent any possibilit of the insert escaping from the block. T ese grooves may extend outward to the front or exposed face of the insert, so that the projecting portion of the insert will have under-cut edges as at 9. The advantage of this is that in pointing up, the mortar is more firmly held in the grooves or recesses and is much less liable to deterioration or loosening by the weather.-

Ubviously where the longitudinal spaces between the inserts are to be pointed up or filled with mortar to hide the block construction, it is necessary that they be absolately uniform. While this is easy enough on the face of the block, it is not so readily obtained at the joining of contiguous blocks, and I have therefore provided for this purpose the construction shown and next to be described. Upon each of two adjacent faces of the block, preferably the bottom and one end, are provided protuberances 10 which are formed or molded on the block and hence are uniform. Preferably these prog, so that when the blocks are laid the protuberances will push through the soft mortar or cement and engage the adjacent block, thus holding them at a fixed distance apart. Obviously,

any number of these protuberances may be employed, although for purposes of illustra-- tion I have shown three on each block surface. These protnberances 1O insure a uni form and exact thickness of the grouting or mortar courses, but they are not sufiiciently strong to take the strain or load after the wall is built, but would crush and permit the block to rest on its entire face; thus there is no cracking or impairing of a lower series of blocks under the heavy lead of subsequent or upper series. Furthermore, the protuberances described are of use in shipping the building blocks loose, to hold them apart and prevent injury and damage to the sharp edges by their coming in contact.

Obviously the inserts need not necessarily be inthe representation of bricks, as I have shown in the drawings, but may be of other suitable forms, and various designs may be worked out, either of the inserts alone or of the same in combination with exposed cement portions of the blsock, according as ones fancy or taste may dictate.

Having thus described the invention, what 1 cfaim as new is:

I. A. building block consisting of an inte at body portion having laying faces and a i'splay side adapted to be exposed, a plurality'of inserts differing from said body portion embedded in the said display side and separated by spaces, and protuberances upon one of said laying faces adapted to engage another similar block and hold adja- .secazac cent inserts on the two blocks at the same distance apart as are inserts on the same block.

blocks each comprising a body portion having a laying face and a display face and ining a laying face and a display face and inserts differing from said body portion ermanently embedded in the said display f ace thereof and separated by intervening portions of said body portion, means between the adjacent laying faces of the two blocks positively holding them with adjacent inserts on their display faces at substantially the same distance apart as are inserts on the same block, and a filling of mortar or the like between said adjacent laying faces substantially flush with the fronts of the body portions of the blocks.

4. The combination of a series of building blocks each having a laying face and a display face with alternating projecting portions and depressed channels, means between apart as are projections on the same block,

and a uniform filling of mortar or the like extending between every two adjacent projecting portions throughout the series of blocks, whereby the joints of the blocks are disguised.

5-. A building block consisting of a body portion having laying faces and a display side, and a plurality of inserts difiering from said body ortion and havin longitn dinally recesse ed es embedde display side of the 'ody portion and: projecting therefrom to expose a transverse part of said edge recess, adjacent inserts beingseparated by channels and portions of the body portion which enter the embedded I arts of the said edge recesses, and mortar in said channels entering the said exposed parts of the said edge recesses.

FREDERIC w. meounsrsn In the presence (if-- Russnm. M. Evsim'r'r,

B. Baas.

2. The combination of a series of building in said 

